Ricky Gervais's podcasts are a comedy phenomenon. Starting out on Xfm in 2001, they went on to break Guinness World Records and in only five years had been downloaded nearly 8 million times. Featuring his comedy partner Stephen Merchant and Karl "he's got a head like a f***ing orange" Pilkington, the rambling banter and mickey-taking between the trio won them international acclaim. The podcasts have now been turned into an animation and will be broadcast on Channel 4 later this month. We caught up with the show's stars at a press conference to find out the key to their success.

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Why did you decide to do an animated version of the podcasts?Ricky: "I think it was because fans had started just doing it anyway and putting it on YouTube. I think it was Wildbrain, the animation house, who approached us and did a little one minute clip for us. It's the real animated conversations that we had, for no other reason than we thought it would be funny. Karl is like a Homer Simpson really. He has child-like qualities. In fact the cartoon has slightly more features than him."Stephen: "Sorry Rick, I'm being distracted by Karl. If I'm distracted, I'm sure everyone else is."Karl: "I don't want to be here. It's not what I normally do."Ricky: "You don't do anything normally! The last time I called you and asked what you were doing, you said 'I'm cleaning out the drain, I'm covered in s**t and pubes'. Surely this is better than that. Speaking to the press is better than being covered in s**t and pubes."Stephen: "Oh, I don't know."

Are you pleased with how your animated characters have turned out?Ricky: "With me, I have tried to make myself look fat and unattractive. But with these two guys...is that what you were trying to say?"Stephen: "You do look a bit like Fred Flintstone in real life."Ricky:"Mine looks like Barney Rubble crossed with Fred Flintstone. Karl is Charlie Brown. And the cartoon of Stephen looks like a real freaky boggle-eyed thing."Stephen: "I asked them to make me look like Fred from Scooby Doo, but they didn't."

Do you still get nervous about how your work will be received?Ricky: "We don't care. I'm not doing an act. We really don't. We love doing the podcast. We did it for fun and an experiment. The best thing that come out of this is that Karl is famous and he'll hate it. That's what I do it for. If other people like it, that's nice. You make a connection. But I think this will be the third time we'll be getting paid for this old s**t."Stephen: "Don't say that, people will think we're money-grabbing."Ricky: "It's not money-grabbing. It's just money for old rope."

Is this the last thing we'll see you doing on TV for a while?Stephen: "I'll still be doing the Barclay's voiceovers. I've just done a new one. You can look forward to that."Karl: "I was supposed to be in one with him. But he put a block on that."Ricky: "He did! He did!"Stephen: "That's not strictly true. Rick you'll respect me for this. It was about a loss of integrity. They wanted us to start doing loads of shtick and sketches."Ricky: "He lost out on £200,000 because you said no!"Stephen: "They wanted to make us into things which ruin the reality."Ricky: "Do you remember when we got offered to do a deal for an exclusive podcast with someone like PlayStation? And he didn't want to share it three ways."Stephen: "What are you talking about? That's b*****s!"

But will we see you work on a sitcom again?Ricky: "We've never said that we will leave TV behind. We resisted doing a film together because after the first episode of The Office, we were offered British films. We went to Hollywood, they said we could have between three and eight million pounds to make a film. We said, 'we'll come back when there's a film worth making'. We didn't want to be two guys off the telly who jumped in too early, which we'd seen all our lives. [Cemetery Junction] is the first time that we were ready. But we haven't left TV behind. When you think of things like The Sopranos, The Wire, Damages, they are beating film on a regular basis. Most films are terrible. It's only the 2% that are good. There's things you can do on TV which you can't do on film. There is something about those episodic, serialisations that are grand and operatic."

What do you think the key to the podcast's success has been?Ricky: "Karl. No question. It's the world eavesdropping on someone they've never met before. It's three mates who have known each other for a while having a laugh. I think it works because of the The Office. Everything we've ever done comes from The Office. But that was only a platform. There are people who love the podcasts much more than anything else we've done."

Do bad reviews and critics bother you anymore?Ricky: At first I feared it and thought it would be the end. But then I began to enjoy it. Like wiggling a tooth. I've never done anything for the common consensus. I do things to please me. If you are happy with something yourself, you become bulletproof. To complain about critics in this business is like a sailor complaining about the waves. Go back to the beach if you don't like it. There are good and bad critics like good or bad artists. A good critic says why they didn't like it. A bad critic gives it away that they don't like you as a person. I quite like that as well, because it means that I've won."Stephen: "If you pay attention to good critics, you have to listen to the bad. So you have to ignore them all really. You can't just cherry pick the glowing ones. Oh, he clearly knows what he's talking about he likes me. Because if he then slags you off, it gets confusing."

The Ricky Gervais Show starts Friday, April 23 at 10.30pm on Channel 4.